Just over two weeks after women's soccer coach Bill Hempen departed Duke to take over the reins at Colorado, the search for his replacement is in full swing. As many as 50 candidates have applied for the job thus far and more applications are expected before the June 30 deadline.
A four-member panel consisting of senior associate athletics director Chris Kennedy, women's lacrosse coach Kerstin Kimel, men's soccer coach John Rennie, and women's athletics administrator Jacki Silar will sift through the applications and make a recommendation to athletics director Joe Alleva. If all goes as planned, a new staff will be in place by the first or second week of July, just in time for the start of recruiting season.
"You'd like not to sacrifice recruiting time, and July is the kickoff of the recruiting period. But if you have to make a choice between getting the right person and having it delayed a week, then getting the right person is much more important as a long-term decision," Kennedy said. "If we could narrow it down to a couple of people and bring them in late next week and then make a decision, we'll try and do that."
While the administrators and players seem to agree that finding a new coach before the start of recruiting season is significant, they differ slightly on the qualities they would look for in a new coach. For instance, leading scorer and senior forward Sarah Pickens, who is playing soccer this summer in Iceland with teammates Thora Helgadottir and Carly Fuller, believes that understanding of the game and interpersonal skills should be the foremost considerations in the hiring.
"Whoever the new coach may be, I hope that he/she will be extremely knowledgeable about the game and highly capable of communicating his/her ideas to the team," Pickens said. "I also hope that the coach is willing and ready to take the team to the top for my senior year."
Meanwhile, Alleva emphasized experience--preferably previous head coaching experience--as a crucial quality that he would like to see in the new coach. Kennedy agreed, and also listed integrity, commitment to academic achievement, along with the ability to mix competitive drive and fun. However, in a slight break from Alleva, he cautioned that certain types of experience are more important than others.
"The best person for this job might not be somebody who is a head coach," Kennedy said. "If it comes down to somebody who has been a head coach at a school in a conference that's very different from Duke and somebody who's been a top assistant in a conference and a school that's much like us... then that might outweigh the OThis person is a head coach and this person is not' [consideration]."
One such candidate who could benefit from the type of experience Kennedy desires is current assistant coach Sue Moy-Chin, who has applied for the job herself. However, if Chin is not selected, then she might have to search for a job elsewhere, because Alleva will allow the new coach to decide upon his assistants.
While doubt remains as to where Chin will be next year, there is no doubt as to the disappointment that both Alleva and Kennedy felt when Hempen announced his resignation to them. Whoever replaces Hempen--who founded the women's soccer program and has been its only head coach--will certainly have large shoes to fill.
"I'm going to miss Billy," Alleva said. "He was a really good coach."
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